INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

Stockholm Resilience Centre offers interdisciplinary courses on first (Undergraduate), second (Master's) and third (PhD) levels of University education. Want to know more about our courses? Click here!

POLICY and Practice

Our engagement in science-policy-practice activities has increased steadily over the years and range from high-level UN dialogues to local resilience assessments. Want to know more about our policy work? Click here!

Board

Stockholm Resilience Centre is governed by an international, independent board which is the highest decision-making body at the centre

Frances Westley (Chair)

JW McCONNEL CHAIR IN SOCIAL INNOVATION, UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, CANADA

Frances Westley joined the University of Waterloo as the J.W. McConnell Chair in social innovation in July 2007.

In this capacity she is one of the principle leads in a Canada wide initiative in social innovation, Social Innovation Generation (SiG) a cross sectoral partnership to build capacity for social innovation in Canada funded by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, University of Waterloo and the Ontario government. Frances Westley is a renowned scholar and consultant in the areas of social innovation, strategies for sustainable development, strategic change, visionary leadership and inter-organizational collaboration. Before joining the University of Waterloo, Westley held the position of director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (2005-2007) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other positions she has previously held include the James McGill Professor of Strategy at McGill University’s Faculty of Management, director of the McGill-Dupont Initiative on social innovation and director of the McGill-McConnell Masters program for National Voluntary Sector leaders – an innovative executive masters customized for the leaders of voluntary organizations across Canada. Frances Westley serves on numerous advisory boards including Resilience Alliance Board of Science, World Conservation Union-Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies (SARAS) and Evergreen Canada. She is on the editorial board of several journals, including Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and Ecology and Society. She is the recipient of several awards including the Ulysses S. Seal award for innovation in conservation and the Corporate Knights Award.

Georgia Destouni

PROFESSOR OF HYDROLOGY, HYDROGEOLOGY, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Georgia (Gia) Destouni is Head of Department of Physical Geography at Stockholm University.

Between 2015 and 2016 she was Head of Research Unit for Hydrology, Water Resources and Permafrost at Stockholm University. Prior to her current position at Stockholm University she was Secretary General of The Swedish Research Council Formas between 2013-2016 and Professor in Engineering Hydrology at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm between 1999 and 2005. She has also been a Visiting Scientist at University of Florida, Gainesville, USA (1994) and a Research Fellow at the Swedish Natural Science Research Council between 1992 – 1998. Honours and recognitions include Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Henry Darcy Medalist (2013) of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Science Europe, Vice President of the International Association for Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and Panel member of the European Research Council (ERC). In 2013 she received the Research and Development Award of the Nova Centre for University Studies, Research and Development, Oskarshamn, Sweden.

Jonas Ebbesson

PROFESSOR, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Jonas Ebbesson is professor in environmental law and Dean Faculty of Law at Stockholm University.

He is also Chair of the UNECE Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. Jonas Ebbesson is Professor of Environmental Law, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Director of Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre, at Stockholm University. In his research, Ebbesson essentially focuses on transboundary dimensions of environmental law. He has written substantially about legal aspects on public interests, public participation and access to justice in environmental law. This includes comparative work on access to justice in environmental matters in the EU, and studies on the notions of public participation and environmental impact assessments in international law. He also conducts research on responsibility for transnational corporations for harm to health and the environment, on justice aspects of environmental law, and on law and social-ecological resilience. He has acted as consultant for various governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies as well as for law firms and environmental consultants.

Katrina Brown

PROFESSOR, EXETER UNIVERSITY, UK

Katrina Brown is Professor of Social Science at the University of Exeter, UK, working at the interface between international development, environmental change and resilience.

Her recent book, “Resilience, Development and Global Change” presents a re-visioning of resilience for development. Brown has extensive experience of interdisciplinary research centres, including as a post-doctoral researcher in CSERGE, and a co-applicant, Deputy Director and Programme Leader of the Tyndall Centre. She has led a number of large international research collaborations, including ESPA large grants, and Leverhulme Trust project, each working with developing country academic and user partners. She has worked in Kenya since her ESRC-funded PhD on women’s collective action in the semi-arid lands in the late 1980s. She has advised international research programmes, such as IHDP, the ARC Centre for Excellence on Coral Reefs and networks, including the Resilience Alliance. Katrina works at the forefront of collaborative science and has standing in international development and global change communities, evidenced by appointments to RAE/REF and Royal Society Expert Panels, and Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. In 2013 she won the first ‘AXA Outlook’ award for pioneering work in Kenya on resilience and poverty using Forum Theatre, which was the subject of a National Geographic film in 2014.

Marten Scheffer

PROFESSOR, WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY, THE NETHERLANDS

Marten Scheffer, Professor, leads the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management group at Wageningen University and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies’ SARAS.

Scheffer is interested in unravelling the mechanisms that determine the stability and resilience of complex systems. Although much of his work has focused on ecosystems, he also worked with a range of scientists from other disciplines to address issues of stability and shifts in natural and social systems. Examples include the feedback between atmospheric carbon and the earth temperature, the collapse of ancient societies, inertia and shifts in public opinion, evolutionary emergence of patterns of species similarity, the effect of climatic extremes on forest dynamics and the balance of facilitation and competition in plant communities. With the help of a Spinoza award and an ERC advanced grant he founded SparcS and now works on finding generic early warning signals for critical transitions.

Heide Hackmann

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE

Dr. Heide Hackmann is the Executive Director of the International Council for Science, following eight years as Executive Director of the International Social Science Council.

Heide holds a M.Phil in contemporary social theory from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a PhD in science and technology studies from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. She has worked as a science policy maker, researcher and consultant in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Before moving into the world of the international councils, Heide worked as Head of the Department of International Relations and Quality Assessment of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her career in science policy dates back to the early 1990s when she worked at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. Heide holds membership of several international advisory committees and boards, including the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and the Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden. She co-chairs the UN’s 10-member group supporting the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) on the Sustainable Development Goals, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils.

Deliang Chen

PROFESSOR, GOTHENBURG UNIVERSITY

Deliang Chen is a meteorologist by education and an internationally renowned climate researcher.

He also has extensive experiences with science for policy. He is an elected member of several Academies (e.g. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)). He has served on numerous committees/boards, such as Chair of the Nomination Committee of the Stockholm Water Prize, as well as members of the Science Committee for the Olav Thon the VOLVO Environment Prizes.

Leena Srivastava

PROFESSOR, TERI UNIVERSITY, INDIA

Dr Srivastava has over thirty years of experience in the fields of energy and environment.

She is a member of the President's Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank; the Carbon Trust Advisory Panel, UK; the Research Advisory Committee, WWF-India, Council of Advisors for Fraunhofer, India, the International Advisory Panel of Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany. She serves as a Board Member of the Meridian Institute, USA. She served on the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs), UNEP (till 2016) and the Administrative Board of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative till August 2017. She is an Independent and Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Bharti Infratel Ltd. India and Shree Cement Ltd., India. She is also on the Sustainable Development Advisory Board, Caterpillar Inc. USA; Senior Advisory Group (SAG), Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), WBCSD and the Advisory Group of Consocia Advisory, India. In 2008, the Prime Minister of the Republic of France awarded Dr Srivastava with the Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques). She has also received a Certificate of Recognition from the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the IPCC for her contribution to the work of the IPCC.

Pavan Sukhdev

PROFESSOR, FOUNDER & CEO, GIST ADVISORY

Pavan Sukhdev is an environmental economist whose field of studies include green economy and international finance.

He was the Special Adviser and Head of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative, a major UN project suite to demonstrate that greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growing wealth, increasing decent employment, and reducing persistent poverty. He was also the Study Leader for TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity). He is the Founder-CEO of GIST Advisory, a specialist consulting firm which helps governments and corporations discover, measure, value, and manage their impacts on natural and human capital. In recognition of his continuing work in helping governments and corporations transition towards a Green Economy, UNEP appointed him as the UNEP Goodwill Ambassador in the year 2012. Pavan Sukhdev was a Visiting Fellow at Yale University from 2011 to 2014 where he wrote the book “Corporation 2020” about how corporations and society can work together and build a green economy. He has chaired the World Economic Forum’s “Global Agenda Council” on Ecosystems and Biodiversity (2009-2011). He currently serves on the boards of Conservation International, Global Reporting Initiative, TEEB for Business Coalition and the Gulbenkian Oceans Initiative (GOI).

Simon Levin

PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, USA

Simon Levin is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University.

Levin is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a Foreign Member of the Istituto Veneto and the Istituto Lombardo. He is a University Fellow of Resources for the Future, a Fellow of the Beijer Institute of EcologicalEconomics, a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and a Fellow for the Society for Mathematical Biology. He chaired the Governing Council for IIASA for more than five years and was Vice-Chair from 2009-2012. He serves on the Science Board of the Santa Fe Institute and is also Vice-Chair for Mathematics of the Committee of Concerned Scientists. He won the MacArthur Award (1988), Distinguished Service Citation (1998) and the Eminent Ecologist Award (2010) of the Ecological Society of America, the Okubo Award of the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Japanese Society for Theoretical Biology, and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute for Biological Sciences. He is the editor of the influential Princeton Guide to Ecology and the landmark Encyclopedia of Biodiversity.

Peter Hambäck

PROFESSOR, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Peter Hambäck is professor at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University.

His research focuses on the role of spatial heterogeneity for species interactions, particularly between plants and herbivorous insects. Research projects include: The ecology and evolution of indirect interactions in host-parasitoid systems; Managing ecosystem services for fruit production in different European climates; Searching for food in complex environments: Integrating processes at multiple spatial scales.

Stephen R. Carpenter

PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, USA

Stephen Carpenter is a lake ecologist whose research interest is in whole-ecosystem experiments and adaptive ecosystem management in freshwaters.

Prior to his position at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, he spent ten years spent at the University of Notre Dame. Carpenter is Chair of the Science Committee for the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society of the "Future Earth. He is co-Editor in Chief of the journal Ecosystems, and a member of the governing board for the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies. He is a former President of the Ecological Society of America. Carpenter is the 2011 laureate of the Stockholm Water Prize for his research on how lake ecosystems are affected by their surrounding landscape and by human activities such as nutrient loading, fishing, and introductions of exotic species. His other awards include a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and Environment, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award in 1999 from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, the Robert H. MacArthur Award in 2000 from the Ecological Society of America, the Excellence in Ecology Prize (ECI Prize)in 2000 from the Ecology Institute for limnetic ecology, and the Naumann-Thienemann medal of the International Society of Limnology. Carpenter has also been awarded membership in the US National Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Peter E. Norman

ECONOMIST, FORMER MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL MARKETS, SWEDEN

Peter Norman is a Swedish economist who served as Minister for Financial Markets from 2010 to 2014.

Norman has worked in the financial industry since 1992. The last ten years, before appointment as minister, he has worked as president of the Seventh AP Fund (Swedish: Sjunde AP-fonden). Prior to joining the AP-Fund in 2000, Norman was the CEO of Alfred Berg Asset Management from 1996 to 1999 and director (deputy director) at the Riksbank from 1994 to 1996. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree. Norman was previously chairman of the board of Carnegie Investment Bank and the finance company Max Matthiessen. He is a member of the board of Stockholm University and the investment company Svolder, and was previously vice chairman of the Nuclear Waste Fund.

Andreas Duit

PROFESSOR, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Andreas Duit works in the field of comparative environmental politics, with special focus on governance and complexity, institutional theory, and the role of the state in addressing environmental problems.

Duit is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, but has also been a visiting scholar at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Department of Political Science, University of Washington. He was previously a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He is currently leading two larger research projects Governing the Anthropocene (GRACE) and A Global Survey of Learning, Participation and Ecosystem Management in Biosphere Reserves (GLEANe) ) funded by the Swedish Research Council.